The agreement guarantees admission to Rider for students who complete their degrees at Bucks County Community College across a wide range of academic majors.

Written By: Sean Ramsden

Friday, September 27, 2013

In the interest of providing Bucks County (Pa.) students with improved opportunities to excel in higher education, Rider University and Bucks County Community College (BCCC) agreed to reaffirm and expand upon their current partnership of guaranteed transfer for BCCC graduates. The presidents of both institutions signed the formal agreement on September 26 in the Linksz Pavilion on the BCCC campus in Newtown, Pa.

The agreement grants admission to Rider for students who have declared their participation in the program before accruing 30 credit hours at Bucks County Community College. They will be expected to follow the prescribed program curriculum, take and complete all courses and earn degrees at BCCC, achieve a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5, and apply for transfer admission by the normal Rider transfer application deadline.

“This is the sort of articulation agreement that I dream about, the guaranteed acceptance of our students after completing their degrees here,” said Dr. Stephanie Shanblatt, president of Bucks County Community College. Shanblatt said the student body at Rider will also be enriched by the caliber of Bucks students who continue their education on its Lawrenceville, N.J., campus.

“We go a great job preparing our students for transfer,” she said. “The clearinghouse information shows that our transfers do just as well, if not better, than the native students” at their transfer destinations.

Rider President Mordechai Rozanski shared Shanblatt’s enthusiasm for the partnership. “Our missions dovetail in many ways,” said Rozanski, citing both institutions’ commitment to academic excellence and student support. “From the completion of their degrees to their outcomes, I can’t see how students wouldn’t succeed when they come from an institution so similar.”